


Drowning

by bottledyarn



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-16
Updated: 2012-07-16
Packaged: 2017-11-19 13:27:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/573770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bottledyarn/pseuds/bottledyarn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zayn almost drowns, but Louis saves him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Drowning

**Author's Note:**

> Originally by request on my Tumblr

**I am not a lifeguard, so I have no clue what mouth to mouth is supposed to be like, nor do I know the signs of drowning or anything like that, so I winged it. Oh, and who spoke the last line can be up to your imagination.**

The beach they were at was completely lovely. It was private, so there was no paparazzi, no crazy fans, it was just them. The water was a perfect temperature and the waves were big enough to be fun, but not so wild that they got smacked in the face every time they went in the water.

They were acting like little kids, playing around and roughhousing, salt getting in their mouths and eyes. They didn’t really mind it, though. The serenity of having an entire beach (not to mention an entire day) to themselves was overwhelming.

Louis half-heard Zayn yell that he’d lost his necklace and was going to find it, but he didn’t pay much attention to it. The other boys didn’t even notice as Zayn started wading through the chest-deep water, trying to find his necklace. He started getting further and further from shore, the water deepening very slowly. He was at least a hundred yards from shore, and at least seventy-five from the boys, when the water reached his shoulders. He realized it was probably silly to look this far for his necklace, but it was fairly light and the waves could easily carry it. They’d gotten close to this area earlier, too- maybe ten yards away- so it could easily have gotten this far.

The waves were much stronger underwater than they were at the surface, and he had to struggle to move further. He stood on his tiptoes to keep his head from going under. He decided to stop in a few feet, since he couldn’t swim and after that point the water would be too deep to stand in.

The sand he was standing on suddenly slipped out and his head slipped under briefly. He broke back to the surface, struggling to try and find the bottom again. He had to have walked off some kind of ledge into abruptly deeper water. 

Zayn could already feel panic kicking in, and he let out a shout just as one of the underwater currents tugged him even further from the shallower area. He started kicking frantically, trying to stay above water. He couldn’t see the boys, as the water kept blinding him. The waves knocked him around so that he was under the surface entirely, trying to blindly figure out which way was up and go that direction.

He’d never really held his breath before, and the sudden burn in his lungs was alarming. He flailed, his body’s natural instinct to panic taking over completely. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been underwater, but his head started pounding sharply, and he didn’t realize what he was doing as he instinctively took a breath, inhaling the sea water.

Back towards shore, Harry had been the only one to hear the shout, so he turned away from the boys and looked out in the direction of the yell. He shushed the other boys, trying to see where it had come from. He barely could make out splashing, a long distance away.

“Guys…” he said. “Where’s Zayn?”

The others looked around confusedly. 

“I thought he was here…” Niall said, glancing around.

“He said he was looking for something,” Louis said. “Why?”

Harry pointed at the splashing, his rapidly paling face making the connection between the splashing and his question.

“Oh, god,” Liam said, staring at the splashing. “He can’t swim.”

Louis started moving immediately, swimming lifeguard style, keeping his head above water to keep his eye on the splashing. The other boys followed a moment after, trying to wade or doggy-paddle through the ocean water.

“Zayn!” Louis yelled.

The splashing abruptly disappeared, leaving no trace of the boy. “Zayn!” Louis yelled again, getting closer to the area.

Louis’ head dropped under, vanishing under the surface. He resurfaced twice before disappearing for a longer time. The boys reached the area, Niall slipping off the same ledge but quickly righting himself and treading. 

“There’s a ledge,” Niall said. “It’s shallow until right there!”  
Louis finally surfaced again, his arm wrapped around Zayn’s chest. Zayn was pale and had his eyes closed, making the other boys panic.

“Is he alive?” Liam asked immediately, swimming behind Louis as he started moving as quickly as he could towards shore.

Louis ignored him, focusing on getting to land. He got there quickly, adrenaline obviously having kicked in. He laid Zayn at the edge of the water, leaning over him and keeping his ear above Zayn’s mouth.

He pinched Zayn’s nose and pressed his mouth to Zayn’s, blowing air in twice before leaning back and watching Zayn for a moment before repeating the procedure.

The other boys reached shore after the third repetition, standing slightly to the side anxiously.

“His pulse is going away,” Louis said, his voice revealing the panic that his face and body hadn’t shown. He repeated the breathing twice more, bursting into tears when Zayn gagged and vomited sea water to the side.

“Jesus Christ, Zayn!” Harry exclaimed, pressing his hands to his face.

Zayn coughed more, gagging again before taking a clear breath, blinking rapidly.

“What happened?” he asked, his voice almost completely hoarse.

“What the hell do you think happened?” Liam asked, sitting down beside Zayn.

Zayn squeezed his eyes shut momentarily. “My…everything…hurts.”

Louis was still crying rather hysterically, and Zayn finally noticed.

“Why are you crying?”

That only made it worse, and Louis’ occasional breaths turned into little whining sobs. The other boys watched him awkwardly.

“I’m okay!” Zayn said. “Stop crying, it’s weird!”  
Louis pressed his hands over his face, trying to stop. “I’m sorry!”  
“Stop being weird,” Zayn said. “Stop.”

Louis sniffed and lowered his hands, his eyes red rimmed. “I thought you were going to die.”

“Of course not!” Zayn said, propping himself up on his elbows. “I wouldn’t leave you guys.”

Louis sniffled again and stared at Zayn, his face almost in a pout.

“I wouldn’t have expected you to be the kind to cry at something like this,” Zayn said. “You haven’t even made a joke yet.”

Louis leaned over and kissed Zayn quickly, starting to cry again. The other boys snickered, having known that Louis was head-over-heels infatuated with Zayn and had been for months.

“Oh,” Zayn said, blinking. “Oh!”

Louis was crying again. “You almost died, you idiot!” he exclaimed, whacking Zayn’s shoulder. “I hate you!”

Zayn struggled to sit up, leaning forward to kiss Louis, barely registering the salt of the tears.

Louis kissed back, leaning in closer until one of the boys cleared their throats to get them to stop.

“You taste like ocean vomit,” Louis said, sniffling again. 

“Better than tasting like a corpse.”


End file.
